PART 1 - Before the Final Meeting with the Builder!
PART 2 - After the Final Meeting with the Builder! is lower on this page
A funny thing happened while thinking of all the things we had to do to sell our current house and build another house.
We made a financial Bonehead Blunder. WHAT? We forgot to add in the commission to the real estate agent? OOPS!
Now for many of you this might sound like we do not know what we are doing. And it sounds like that to us also. Remember, even though we own a home it does not mean we have actually purchased a home . . .at least in the normal manner of speaking.
We purchased our house from DJ's parents and basically signed a paper on a land contract. No need to agents and so forth. We have never purchased OR sold before. It's pretty much learn as we go.
No worries though, we have the commission covered. However that does put the willy on a few "tweaks" we were looking into having and will now have to put off to another time (for The List).
Remember The List? The List is what you will need to create when you move into a house of all the things you want to do . . . later? If you don't have The List you will do all of those things a month before you move out and THAT sucks. We wish we had made The List when we moved in. But, alas. Move on.
So this week our virtual list has us having 5 rooms and ceilings painted, a hallway and a basement floor. Then we're having a pocket door looked at for repair. It seems that in 1965 when this house was build some stoned out contractor thought making a pocket door PERMANENT was a bright idea. We would have Josh, our fix-it guy son-in-law do it but since he has two jobs, is working on HIS house and since we have OTHER projects for him we are getting somebody that has worked on them before.
Saving time.
Then Thursday we're having the Measuring Guy measure (thus his name) our bathroom for a little remodeling. Josh and I are going to demo the bathroom and they will reinstall everything during the day.
We also decided that we would indulge in the ultimate decluttering tool. A dumpster! How cool is THAT! That just takes a load of trouble off of my "sneaking crap into the garbage" every week. They are not that expensive actually, $140 for a week and $38 a ton of junk!
In other news and jumping ahead five months we have been working on landscaping and have decided (at the moment) on trees and shrubs.
Having the main viewing area facing due south creates a small problem in summer. Like the sun room reaching over 2000 degrees. So the first order of business was planting a shade tree . . . but which one and where.
We decided on an Autumn Blaze Maple. This is a cross between a Red Maple and a Silver Maple. It grows as fast as a Silver at 3 feet per year but has the branch strength of a Red. The color is outstanding in the fall AND is basically seedless.This will go in the back west area to catch the late afternoon and hottest sun.
In the back east we have a different problem being off a golf course.
Knowing from experience how badly hit golf balls fly I THINK that most FAST moving poorly hit balls will be low to the ground (they will need to mbe hit off the toe of the club) if they are flying towards our house. Thus, we are making a corner with three Common Lilac shrubs with a spring Snow Crabtree in the center. This will give us beautiful purple and white flowers in the spring. It will also act as a small fence for golfers that want to wander into our yard (which I really do not mind . . .being a golfer myself).
I wanted a Birch but the area is poor for Birch who likes shade.
In the front yard we want a Prairie Fire Crabtree which are outstanding color-wise ( we have one in our current back yard). Yea - Columbus is known as the Redbud city but I'd like something a little less delicate but with the same look.
The daylilies which were planted at the old house by DJ's mom will come along with us. At least SOME of them. We have hundreds LOL.Personally I think people plant daylilies wrong. I say clump them into one area giving a large BLAST of color as opposed to have them in little groups or along fence lines.
PART 2 - After the Final Meeting with the Builder!
OK - not final at all actually. Just the final meeting to cement (so to speak) the final tweaks for the house. And even now we are having a NEW final tweak. The furnace.
But backing up a tad .
We met with the Dream Team for the semi-final solidification of what the new house plans will be. We took away a couple more things to save a dime here and there and got an estimate on how much the brick would cost (about $19 per square foot - those feet add up!!!).
Now the smaller details are emerging which we really don't have a lot of say in, such as where the house will sit on the property and so forth. We will pay a $15,000 as a deposit and it'll be put in escrow.
Other things we agreed upon is that all decisions will be made within 30 days to give the builder time to order . . .stuff.
THIS is the fun part - siding colors, types of washer and dryers, lights, hardwood floors, carpeting cabinets and so forth. We have allowances for all and should be able to be within budget on all. Keven said the allowances were what the house we toured and loved had in them. Take that exact "stuff" and put it in our house and it would be within our allowance.
HOWEVER - We took a final tour of our "model" house last weekend and DJs dad (living survivor of the USS Indianapolis) spotted the furnace and said "look into that furnace".
We did and found some interesting things.
BUT FIRST - another photo from our backyard. We had a flock of perhaps 20 Cardinals (not the religious kind) in the back yard but I could not get a shot at them (with a camera).
Back to reality.
When you buy a car it comes with tires that, while they will keep you safe, they are not the first choice when it comes to buying NEW tires. They are the cheaper tires that all car manufactures put on their cars.
The Goodman furnace which was goign to be installed is like those tires. It seems they are the first choice for most home builders but they are not the best choice. Especially if you live in Wisconsin.
In fact among HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) installers they have a rather bad reputation.
One review stated " Goodman gets the worst marks among the furnace installers and repairmen we interviewed and those who post to HVAC-Talk, an online consumer forum. Professionals blame this on craftsmanship and an unfriendly design, making Goodman more difficult to service."
They are ranked lowest on Consumer Reports .org and searching the internet I found the number of grips about Goodman to be . . robust!
One of the problems mentioned more then a few times is the fact that Goodman (who owns Amana) will sell to anybody, whether then have a clue on installing or not.
I also found that most furnaces use the same parts from the same manufactures, it's just how those parts are put together that counts.
We're looking into a Rheem.
So - now we are going back the bank to talk about the loan and so forth. Then back to Marcia, give SOMEBODY $15,000 and sit back and see what happens.
Kevin says after he gets the cash it takes a week or so for permits, surveying and other paperwork. Then the hole is dug, we drink Champaign and then pour cement (well, WE'RE not pouring the cement, not in our drunken state).
The cement sits for a week to harden (did you know the cement in the Hoover Damn is STILL drying, thank god we don't have to wait 70 years, that would really add to the cost!).
After a week they backfill (pour dirt around the cement) and then the action starts!
We're looking for Late May to move in.
Of course there is the current house to consider.
ANYWAY - that is where we stand in this long winded blog.
One more photo. That looks like a Yellow Finch right? Why is he still here. We have had 20 of them on our feeder in the summer. FLEE little bird - go where it is warm!!
Rod and DJ - until next time!
Cheers
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